pale colours sps

[Tn23]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

My general rule of thumb with new corals going under LEDs in to a low nutrient system - only take their starting colour as a general guideline for what they will eventually look like. And it can take months for a coral to get to a new colour equilibrium in your system.

The process when I add frags to my system is pretty much always the same now that I have too many other well adjusted and happy corals to want to mess with the lighting in the tank to acclimate one or two new frags:

If coral is browned out when I get it -
1. Over the course of 2 or 3 days, the corals fades drastically, often to almost white. Whether this is due to the lighting, the low nutrients, or both, I don't know.
2. Starts plating, usually right away.
3. as new growth begins at the tips, the tiniest hint of it's 'actual' pigments begin to emerge, usually within 3 weeks.
4. within 1-2 months, the body will darken again to it's 'natural color' (often totally different from when it started)
5. 4 months later the coral looks exactly nothing like when I got it, and is either a pleasant surprise or a total bust.

If the coral is not browned out when I get it but came from a different lighting and nutrient regime -
1. coral loses it's 'brilliance' over the course of about a week-10 days
2. sometimes continues to fade out badly, often looking pretty washed out
3. begins to adjust, colours return to the max brilliance and shade possible for that species under my lights and my nutrient regime, which is sometimes less awesome than when it started, and sometimes way, way, way more awesome than when it started. Depending on the coral, this whole process can take either 3 weeks to 4 months.

If you're running BP and have phosphates under control, your corals will almost certainly take on a much more pastel-esque shade than in a higher nutrient system. On some corals that's an improvement and on others it's really not the best look. Some corals also just don't look as good under LEDs as they can under T5s or Halides, while others look way better. Even that is a crazy general statement given the different outcomes that the different LED diode mixes can produce.

But all the advice for the others here is pretty much bang on - if they're not dying and they're still relatively new, the best bet is to wait and see. They will still be sorting themselves out for a good few months. If your'e finding after a few months that you're losing something in your corals that you really really like and none of them are getting 'it' back, pay closer attention to the lighting and nutrient management systems of the tanks in which your favourites look they way you want and try to emulate that. Trying to convince a red planet in an ULNS LED lit tank to look the same as a red planet in a higher energy, T5 lit tank will be a losing battle.

Agreed and this is SPOT ON:
If coral is browned out when I get it -
1. Over the course of 2 or 3 days, the corals fades drastically, often to almost white. Whether this is due to the lighting, the low nutrients, or both, I don't know.
2. Starts plating, usually right away.
3. as new growth begins at the tips, the tiniest hint of it's 'actual' pigments begin to emerge, usually within 3 weeks.
4. within 1-2 months, the body will darken again to it's 'natural color' (often totally different from when it started)
5. 4 months later the coral looks exactly nothing like when I got it, and is either a pleasant surprise or a total bust.

I often compare my red planet to a T5 red planet.... it makes me very very how can I achieve this redness with LEDS?!

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Salty23

I often compare my red planet to a T5 red planet.... it makes me very very how can I achieve this redness with LEDS?!

My RP is bright and solid red under mine, I'd look at other factors, maybe placement of coral?

[daniella3d]

high lighting + low nutrient = pastel color in corals. Some look good that way some look bad that way.

Feed your corals, they are probably anorexic for now. Give them zeovit amino acid, coral vitalizer and Fauna Marin coral food. It is a long shot but they will regain beautiful colors if you feed them right and not let them starve.

Read Coral magazine article ''is your reef anorexic''. it is a good article about low nutrient and starving corals.

My red planet is striking, very red and green at the base. I have about 5 ppm nitrates and .1 phosphates, so it's far from low nutrient. The way I see it, the only advantage of a ULN is not having to deal with algae. The inconvenient is pale pastel corals and problem with LPS and gorgonians.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

high lighting + low nutrient = pastel color in corals. Some look good that way some look bad that way.

Feed your corals, they are probably anorexic for now. Give them zeovit amino acid, coral vitalizer and Fauna Marin coral food. It is a long shot but they will regain beautiful colors if you feed them right and not let them starve.

Read Coral magazine article ''is your reef anorexic''. it is a good article about low nutrient and starving corals.

My red planet is striking, very red and green at the base. I have about 5 ppm nitrates and .1 phosphates, so it's far from low nutrient. The way I see it, the only advantage of a ULN is not having to deal with algae. The inconvenient is pale pastel corals and problem with LPS and gorgonians.

This is bang on. I'm all over the low nutrients because I like algae less than I like darker colours on my corals. My red planet is more of a 'pink planet', but it's growing like a weed and it's still quite striking nestled amongst a bunch of corals that are practically luminescent yellows and greens that only took on those shades under my lights/nutrients. I took a tiny frag of the red planet and put it on the other side of the tank at the bottom completely in the shade where it grows much, much slower, but it gives me the green base that it's so famous for - though still a pink instead of a red body.

[brotherd]

Subscribed. I'm only 4 months into keeping sps and things are not going well for the few pieces that I have.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by brotherd

Subscribed. I'm only 4 months into keeping sps and things are not going well for the few pieces that I have.

If you're not having exactly the same issue, you might want to start a new thread detailing your particular setup. The advice here may not apply to your tank.

[brotherd]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

If you're not having exactly the same issue, you might want to start a new thread detailing your particular setup. The advice here may not apply to your tank.

My apologies. I had no intention to hijack or sidetrack. I am experiencing similar issues, perhaps not exactly. Just trying to learn.